It’s fair to say that Instagram is among the top social media platforms with its own significant audience. Everybody who has the App understands this. All content in one’s “feed” has been arranged according to that person’s activity. There are also scopes of re-populating content through advertising, but time and effort in audience building is extensive. However, it is also customary over time that users become disinterested with that content in their feed, or even worse, when they can’t get the same interactions or actions as before. If that is you, the following might be worth trying out as it changes the way the algorithm works and subsequently better aligns with your interests on the app.
On this note, in this article we will show you how to refresh the Instagram algorithm and provide you with tips and strategies that would help you understand the specificities of the system.
Table of Contents
What is the Instagram Algorithm?
The Instagram algorithm consists of a number of content recommendations’ heuristics and aspects that work with machine learning that decides what content will be available on the user feed, Instagram Stories and the Explore Page. Each rule, among others, takes the following into consideration:
- Your activity: which posts do you like, comment or share.
- Engagement patterns: how often do you interact with certain accounts and or their posts.
- Content relevance: posts you may not have interacted with, but are similar to those you have.
- Timeliness: the order in which posts are presented in your feed is determined by the time they were uploaded.
- Profile searches: of particular interest is how often/seldom you search for some profiles or hashtags.
‘The sole purpose of this algorithm is to customize and enhance the users’ experience by making everything congruent with their needs and interests as per Instagram’s understanding. However, over time if the user’s interactions and interests change, the algorithm may get it wrong and suggest interactions that no longer seem to be of interest to the user.”
Why Would You Want to Reset the Instagram Algorithm?
There are many benefits that one can receive from reworking the Instagram algorithm for a specific occasion:
Feed Overload: If your feed is dominated with absurd or redundant posts.
Engagement Drop: When one wakes up and finds that the amount of likes, comments or reach on their posts hasn’t increased in a long time.
Discover New Content: Updating the algorithm allows for finding new profiles, phenomena or types of posts that suit one’s liking.
Privacy or Mental Health: It could be done in order to better control what content one has to see and to reduce the stress level through certain post types.
As such, if reworking the Instagram algorithm is your wish due to the listed reasons you should be prepared for a change due to the relevance of the content returned to you.
How to Reset Instagram Algorithm
If you want to start a new timeline on your Instagram account or adjust the algorithm to meet your needs, you can do so by employing the following strategies.
Practice 1: Remove your Search History
The moment you open your Instagram app, make sure to click on the search tab located at the bottom of your screen. This is because Instagram employs your search history as a content targeting mechanism based on the things you have searched for in the past. Deleting your search history can stop Instagram from showing you posts that no longer appeal to you.
Here is how to remove your search history:
- You should open your Instagram app and select your Profile.
- You need to click on the three lines that can be seen on the top right corner.
- You should select Settings>Security
- If using an iOS device tap on clear search history while if using android choose search history
- You should verify your desire to delete the search history
This process would help you in removing all your previous searches and enable Instagram to show you posts according to your current activity.
FAQs
1. How long does it take for the Instagram algorithm to reset?
The algorithm will begin to adjust immediately after you change your behavior (e.g., interacting with new accounts). However, it may take a few days or weeks for the algorithm to fully reflect these changes in your feed and Explore page.
2. Will resetting the Instagram algorithm affect my followers or engagement?
No, resetting the algorithm doesn’t directly affect your followers or the engagement you get on your posts. However, it can affect the type of content Instagram recommends to you, which may impact your future engagement if you start interacting with different accounts.
3. Can I completely erase my Instagram algorithm?
While you can reset your Instagram algorithm by clearing your search history and adjusting your interactions, it is never completely reset to zero. Instagram will always use your ongoing activity to personalize your feed.
4. Does muting accounts reset the Instagram algorithm?
Muting accounts doesn’t directly reset the algorithm, but it does prevent Instagram from suggesting content from those accounts, which helps improve the relevance of your feed.
